The playoffs have not yet begun and the Steelers enter as the No. 2 seed in the AFC but the NFL already has declared them champions ... of merchandise sales.

More Steelers merchandise was sold during the 2010 season than any other NFL team, according to NFLShop.com, which counted sales from April 1, 2010 through Jan. 2.

And the top-selling jersey? Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, a candidate for NFL defensive player of the year, beat them all and was the only non-quarterback among the top eight jersey sales last season.

The Dallas Cowboys had the second-best selling merchandise and reigning Super Bowl champion New Orleans was third.

Following Polamalu in jersey sales were Saints QB Drew Brees, the 2009 league MVP, and popular rookie quarterback Tim Tebow of Denver

This is pretty surprising considering that the Cowboys usually lead in merchandise sales (I guess winning does matter) and there presumably was a depresssed market for Roethlisberger jerseys. No clue why Tebow is so popular

thats awesome. It's been quite obvious that the Steelers are "america's team" (sorry, Dallas..). I see Steelers gear everywhere i go. All over. Ya know, whenever i go to Florida, i sure as hell don't see someone walking down the street with a Pats jersey on....its always the Steelers!!
Just look around in the stadiums on road games....most of them almost feel like a 'home' game.

As for the Troy thing...he should be defensive MVP...but the writers and analysts are up-talking almost everyone else for the award. I don't know if we're being "snubbed" or trying to be purposely derailed by the media. Its no doubt Troy...even if he didn't play in all the games this year.